Shouto woke up early as he always did to get stronger. As he went to the institute's gym to increase his ice's and fire's strength, he noticed there was something going on. At seven pm, there was close to no one awake in the school, and yet, he heard adults chattering in a room. He was going to walk past, adults and their uninteresting conversations be damned, when he heard a familiar voice.
This strong and confident sound couldn't belong to anyone else but All Might's. Shouto gasped. There was no way his idol would put a foot in this hell of a place, he had thought before, but there he was, as he ran to peek from the door, that strong iconic back in a tailored yellow suit. The young boy's heart raced to the extent he wondered if someone else could hear it if they approached him. Not only was Shouto a huge fan, but he realized, his eyes opening wide, that the symbol of peace visiting the school was the chance they needed to escape.
All Might would never leave them to rot in this place if he knew the truth about what happened behind these walls.
Shouto, without thinking, ran towards All Might, hugging his leg as he yelled:
"All Might, I'm your biggest fan! Please, please, can we talk privately?" If they talked without any of these nasty adults in the room, no one would stop Shouto from telling the truth.
"Darling, All Might is busy right now. You guys can talk later!" A woman, who Shouto recognized as the librarian, spoke with a gentle voice. Upon realizing she was stepping towards him to remove him from the place, Shouto's eyebrows knit deeply. He couldn't let that happen.
Before anyone could react, not even All Might, Shouto got on his knees, shouting in the loudest voice he could gather.
"ALL MIGHT, PLEASE, GRACE ME WITH YOUR PRESENCE AND ALLOW ME TO SPEAK TO YOU! Y-YOU WOULDN'T DISAPPOINT A YOUNG FAN, WOULDN'T YOU? I'M JUST EIGHT!" Shouto's forehead shined with sweat, as his hair was starting to stick to it.
All Might laughed. It was a kind laugh, not like Endeavor's, though, but while it would have normally made Shouto incredibly happy to make his favorite person in the world laugh, and would forever keep it in his mind as an achievement, Shouto's heart sank instead. He wasn't being taken seriously, wasn't he?
"Boy, you truly have a way with your words, at your young age!" All Might seemed to be praising... His speech? Why wasn't he just straight up agreeing and just taking him somewhere else? "I am truly sorry, though. There is just some affairs that I must resolve right now..." All Might looked at Shouto's despair, his expression softening. It seemed like he was about to give in…
"Shouto, don't interrupt the adult's conversations, you can talk to All Might later" the director intervened. Shouto felt a spine chill upon realizing this man somehow still remembered him to the point of knowing his name.
"I can give you an autograph, though, boy!" The symbol of peace tried to cheer up Shouto upon seeing his eyes starting to be filled with tears.
"I DON'T FUCKING WANT AN AUTOGRAPH! LET'S TALK!" Shouto begged, still on his knees, hugging All Might's leg, his voice breaking as he started to finally cry.
One of the instructors wasn't having it, as he approached Shouto in a swift movement, and as he was about to grab Shouto's arms, the eight year old remembered what it felt like to be punched twice by those same hands, to have to train tirelessly as a punishment until passing out. Shouto gasped in horror, as he closed his eyes and waited for it to happen, instinctively creating an ice shield that acted as a wall between them.
The silence was sepulchral. Not even the number one hero spoke, and while Shouto was blinded while closing his eyes, All Might's smile fell.
"Let's give the boy a chance to speak," the pro hero's voice cut the tense silence.
Izuku was awakened by familiar hands shaking him. They were small, unlike his father's, so while he was still half asleep, he recognized it couldn't be anyone else but his best friend.
"Izuku, wake up" he kept shaking the green eyed boy, who yelped in protest, finally opening his eyes. As Izuku stared at him, his eyes half open and waiting for an explanation, he suddenly recognized a strange redness in one of his friend's cheeks, which made his eyes open fully. As Izuku frowned, recognizing Shouto must have been slapped by some adult, somehow, at this early time… the boy with the double quirk cut the silence. "Something happened" he informed him with a scowl in his face. His eyes were filled with defeat, their usual sparkle and determination having disappeared. It seemed as if all of his energy had been taken away by some entity, and he looked… sad and angry, besides disheartened.
"What happened? Are you ok? Who hurt you?" Izuku was about to get off his bed, anxious and impotent, but was stopped by Shouto, his gaze intensely piercing the fire quirk user.
"I almost got us out of here."
Shouto told him everything, until the moment All Might had agreed to Shouto's pleading.
"Before I could even tell him our situation, one of the instructors grabbed my wrist and just pulled me aside. He took me very far away, and All Might was stopped by all of the adults in the room and I was… well, you know, slapped." Shouto sighed, his eyebrows knitted in a deep scowl.
"What? B-but it's All Might! He could have just pushed them aside with his super strength and…!" Izuku stopped upon watching Shouto's bittersweet, small smile, form in his face.
"He did none of that. He just… argued with them, and just let it go" Shouto's fists, now against his sides, were clenched, but somehow, the grin didn't disappear from his face: it only got wider. "He is still here, though, Izuku! I know it! I can just bet our All Might figure that he came here to visit the most troublesome side of the school to leave some kind of positive impact through some lame ass speech! That means there is still a goddamn chance for us to leave this place" he grabbed Izuku's shoulders, as said boy recognized the look on Shouto's face.
That was the face of resilience.
"Students." The instructor greeted them in a harsh voice, a shout, as everyone stood up from their places to show respect. Izuku hated that ritual, but he had no voice to complain. "Today we will receive a special visit from a hero" he stopped, observing the student's reactions. Some of the kid's eyes lit up, but no one dared to speak and celebrate in any kind of way, not if that meant they would get repercussions. "You will not" he emphasized by hitting the desk "embarrass the institute with any childish attitude towards the celebrity. You will show your true strength today, more than ever. You hear me?" Izuku stared at his bald head, trying to distract himself from the harsh look the teacher gave to every single one of them.
The class yelled a yes, and the instructor left the room. Izuku looked at Shouto, who nodded with a serious look in his face towards him. They would execute the second plan of escape today.
All Might, to everyone's surprise but them, entered the room, with his trademark smile facing the students, who gasped collectively.
"Kids, the symbol of peace came here today to film a promotional video with us. Now, how do we greet strangers?" The teacher showed his teeth in a way that Izuku guessed was a poor attempt of a kind smile towards them. Everyone got up and bowed.
As All Might introduced himself and made them yell a quirky Plus Ultra, they had to leave the classroom and go to the training facilities. While Izuku had no idea what kind of video they would make, he knew it wouldn't matter.
All Might walked behind the kids, who were marching in a formation that reminded the symbol of peace of the military. These kids seemed too mature for their age, whispering among each other and over all being too well behaved. They had even doubted to yell Plus Ultra. This place… with each minute he spent in it, he couldn't help but feel more and more creeped out and worried for these kids, especially after the morning's occurrence. That boy… he knew it was the son of Endeavor.
He knew about his story, just like everyone else, which made it all worse. He had flinched and used his quirk protectively, in a way that kids only did when they were under a threat, and that possible danger took form in the instructors. The poor boy must be so traumatized after experiencing Endeavor's abuse… he understood why he would feel scared of the teachers. Perhaps grown men reminded him too much of his own father, and that's why he had been so scared of the teacher.
Whatever reason it was, he couldn't just let it go. He knew he had to talk to that boy, Shouto Todoroki… there was no way in hell he was disappointing the young boy like that.
It seemed like none of the teachers was going to let him do that, though.
The whole situation was odd.
His thoughts were interrupted by an agonized scream. It came from a boy with green hair, who was laying in the ground and clutching his ankle.
"It hurts, it hurts so much!" He kept yelling as he trashed in the ground.
All Might quickly hurried and kneeled next to the boy.
"What happened, my boy?" He asked as he tried to eye the ankle, but couldn't due to the boy writhing.
"My ankle! It hurts and I don't know why!" the boy started to cry. There were some muffled laughs, to All Might's surprise, but he decided to ignore them as he carefully took the eight year old in his arms.
"I'm going to take him to the infirmary! Everything will be ok, because I am here!" He smiled, hearing the crowd of kids cheer up upon hearing his iconic line in person. The other teacher seemed to want to pull him aside and talk to him, but All Might shaked his head in his direction. "I'll be back soon!" He promised, trying to cheer the kids up now that they seemed to complain about the symbol of peace leaving them.
All Might leaped into the sky. They were quite far away from the school's classrooms, since they had gone to the forest for the video shooting. He landed in one of the buildings.
"Where is the infirmary, young boy?" He asked the kid in his arms, who pointed at the door to leave the rooftop. As All Might rushed towards it by now running, no longer in the air, he was surprised to feel the infant scramble away from his embrace.
The boy rolled in the ground, and as the pro hero went to try to lift him again, believing he had accidentally slipped from his arms somehow, the boy quickly got up, easily, and spoke.
"All Might!" His voice was pleading, and the symbol of peace felt too confused. Wasn't he hurt? "The teachers… They hit us almost every day, and make us run and train until we can't keep standing!" He shouted, the words tumbling out in a rush. They were very far away from the forest. It was just him and the kid in the roof.
All Might's heart plummeted as he understood everything now. It wasn't simply Shouto being scared of adults because of his childhood trauma…
"You're telling the truth?" He asked, just to be sure, and the kid nodded eagerly.
*
All Might was right there, and he clearly believed him! Izuku felt a heavy burden being lifted from his shoulders, but then, his favorite hero spoke again.
"Boy… there is nothing I can do right now" the hero told him, as Izuku froze in his spot. "I can't interfere legally without concrete proof, but I will hire an investigator and…"
Izuku felt anger. It was strange, feeling that. While he was used to the impotence, anger wasn't as common. He had felt angry when Shouto had been taken away from him and punished, but besides that, this was a new emotion. He didn't feel any of his usual guilt, just pure, heartfelt anger.
"An investigator? Y-you're just leaving us, aren't you?!" He pointed his finger accusingly towards the adult.
"Yes, but kiddo, I will try to find proof with the help of a professional, and then, if we find anything we…" Before he could continue, Izuku shouted again.
" If? If you find anything?" He repeated. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Look boy, adults are good at… covering up their wrong doings. There is a possibility we won't find anything, but we can also be successful and then we will sue…"
"Sue? I know that legal stuff takes years, I've heard of them, legal battles, they're called" His voice was broken, as he cried, and stared at the floor, clenching his fists and lowering his head. "You're just leaving us to fend for ourselves, aren't you?" He found the strength to look up and stared at the blond man.
The silence was heavy.
"Boy, please understand…" All Might was pleading now.
"There is nothing to understand. You can't do anything." Izuku ignored his own tears. "Just leave me already, All Might".
He felt no surprise when the hero did as he was told, leaving him on the rooftop.